How Long Is the Present?

<p>Charlie, one of my dearest classmates from high school, wrote to tell me he had stage three cancer. I don&rsquo;t know what that means. I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;<em>want</em>&nbsp;to know. Fortunately, he didn&rsquo;t tell me until he was already on the mend.</p> <p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry, I&rsquo;m better now, I&rsquo;m even running again.&rdquo;</p> <p>That was a kindness. He provided me with the sense of urgency that makes you stop putting off plans, but spared me the anguish of what he&rsquo;d been through.</p> <p>I&rsquo;m young enough that this is the first message I&rsquo;ve received like that, but old enough to know that this is only the beginning.</p> <p>Yesterday, I sat down with Charlie&rsquo;s family to eat dinner. We happened to be in town, and I said, &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s meet at the Mall of America.&rdquo; He showed up with his wife and his two kids and we went to a place called the Rain Forest Cafe. It was like a restaurant from Disney World. It had animatronic animals.</p> <p>I had a big smile on my face the whole time we were together. It was like a free vacation. We just waved our wands and made it happen. There was no planning other than the need to get together, and it all worked out perfectly.</p> <p>It made me stop and wonder why it&rsquo;s so infrequent that we find the time to stop and savor a moment.</p> <p><a href="https://humanparts.medium.com/how-long-is-the-present-201c428994fc"><strong>Visit Now</strong></a></p>
Tags: Present Long